A Check for $10,000

Last week I wrote a personal check for $10,000 payable to the Organ
Fund at the Church of the Good Shepherd.

I have never written a larger check in my life, unless you count
tuition payments for Sarah and Andrew when they were in college and I
was in seminary and that is such a financially painful memory I would
rather not go there.

I had hoped to write the check to the church in a leisurely and
reflective moment. Instead I scribbled it out in haste just before
racing out the door to make an unexpected visit to the hospital.

And yet, once again I discovered the power and the pleasure of giving.
Throughout the day and indeed ever since, that check has given me
intense satisfaction. I have been able to make a contribution to the
welfare and well being of the people of Good Shepherd for years to
come. I savor that thought and taste it every day.

Don't get me wrong. I could have used the money in countless other
ways. Through the vagaries of family history I have come to own a 116
year old house on an island in northern Lake Huron. I love it. Its
been in the family since 1921. Four generations of my family have
lived, squabbled, loved, worked and played there. Each summer when I
walk in the front door I see my grandparents, my parents, my brother
Mike, all dead now, yet still present in the very wood and furniture
that hasn't been changed significantly since, oh, 1928. I sometimes
think I care for that house more than life itself. And, yes, $10,000
would do a lot to keep the old place going.

I am also finding that at this stage in life, my personal savings are
well, personal. Hard to acquire, harder to replenish.

Yet writing a check to the church for the largest gift of my life is
perhaps the finest, most lasting pleasure I have ever known.

Who knows? Maybe Jesus was right.

I rather suspect he was.

Joyously yours,

Charles

Building for a Strong Future at Good Shepherd

For over fifty years, Good Shepherd has been a caring community that cares for real people in real places in real ways.

During the past five years, Good Shepherd has been growing. Quietly, sometimes fitfully, but nevertheless steadily, our community has grown, even as our founding generation has died.

As a caring community we have grown in depth as well as breadth. In our own distinctive way we care for each other and for the world: for our kids in their education as young followers of Christ; our teenagers as they take their faith into the world in Central America and South Dakota and Harlan, Kentucky; for our spiritual development as adults in EFM and at Good Shepherd and the World; for our growth in the Holy Habits of tithing, prayer, study and Sabbath time; for our compassionate care for our members through Stephen Ministry and Eucharistic Visitors, Martha’s Kitchen and the Men’s Club; for the hungry who need food and get it from Fish, for the homeless who need shelter and get it through Family Promise, and for public school teachers who simply need friendly supporters. Good Shepherd cares.

Now the time has come for us to care about our own home and to build strongly for our own future as a worshipping congregation.

During the past six months the vestry has studied the real needs of a beautiful church that was built in the 1950’s. We love our home but as one vestry member said, its an old house. Our church now needs the loving care we have always shown to others.

During the year ahead, we will give our church the care it needs and deserves. That care will take many forms, from building new supports to protect our wonderful stained glass windows, to making the altar accessible for those who prefer not to use stairs, to insuring that when its hot we stay cool and when its cold we stay warm, to finding and repairing the persistent leak in the entrance way and parish hall and oh yes, repaving the parking lot. These and other tasks are important for the future of the church.

But the single most important investment we can make in the future of Good Shepherd is to invest in a high quality organ.

Churches grow because they have great music, great teaching and great preaching.

Although Christian worship will always honor silence as a means to approach God, for nearly two thousand years, great worship has been led by great music.

Because of the configuration of our A frame interior, installing a pipe organ, new or historic, in our present space has turned out to be difficult and perhaps impossible. But we can acquire, install and enjoy a high quality electronic organ to lead our worship now and well into our future.

Recently an informal group of vestry members and friends of music have listened to electronic organs in Knoxville and Atlanta. They have recommended that we buy an Allen Q 350 organ. The Q 350 has acoustic qualities that even Jim Rogers admires. Jim says that it has a remarkable sound and Jim is a demanding musician.

You can read about the Allen Q 350 either in the literature available in the church or online by clicking here. But the bottom line is that it costs $70,000 and if we order by Christmas we can probably have it installed by Easter. While $70,000 may sound like a lot, even a small pipe organ would cost twice that amount, not including annual maintenance.

I believe so strongly that acquiring a high quality organ is a critical investment in the future of Good Shepherd that I have pledged $10,000 from my personal savings to help buy it. [this is in addition to my personal pledge of $10,000 for the year 2012 as a tenth of my anticipated total income and benefits before taxes] I am not alone. Others have now pledged an additional $30,000. With a current total of nearly $40,000 we are over half way there.

If you too wish to help take a strong step into the future of the church, the vestry invites you to make your own contribution—in any amount—to the purchase of the new organ. You may make a contribution in any way and over any period of time that makes sense to you. After all, we are in this for the next fifty years.

With peace and blessings at Advent,

Charles

Want to Help Give Good Shepherd a REAL Christmas Present?

Our electronic organ is twenty years old and badly needs to be replaced.

We have found the right new organ. Its an Allen Q350 50 Stop Three

Manual Console electric. 

Cost installed at Good Shepherd: $70,000.

 Judy Burnette, Jerry Vail, Nancy Harless, Jim Rogers and I traveled to Atlanta recently so that we could listen and Jim could test and play the Q350.   Jim can describe the technical aspects.  For now its enough to say that Judy, Jerry, Nancy and I agreed its a great instrument with a wonderful sound. Jim tells us that it will sound 50% better installed and tuned.  During the year ahead we will be taking a number of other important steps to renew the parish for the next fifty years. There is no doubt that we will have to find prudent and timely ways to address the real life challenges of an aging building and a parking lot that needs resurfacing.  Nevertheless, I know of no other single project more important to the future of Good Shepherd than the purchase and installation of a high quality instrument to help lead us in worship.  I was so impressed by the instrument-- and the importance of proceeding as quickly as possible while the price is still in effect--that I told the group I would contribute $10,000 to the purchase price, in addition to my annual pledge of $10,000 for 2012. I am taking the money out of my personal savings and will pay it to Good Shepherd later this month. I had not planned to make such a contribution but I am doing so because I know this is an important investment in our future as a community of worship and faith.

 I hope others will join me. In fact several others have already done so.   We now have $34,250 in pledged support. That leaves $35,750 to go.  If we can raise the money before   Christmas, it would be a wonderful Christmas present to the entire parish. And we could have a wonderful new organ in time for Easter. 

 We have glimpsed the promised land.  

With thanksgiving for your presence at Good Shepherd and for your support of the work of God in this special place.  

Charles  

If you would like to know more about the Q350, here is the link:  

http://www.allenorgan.com/www/products/q350/q350.html

70 Oreo Cookies

When I was a child, General Dwight Eisenhower was worshipped. Not only
had he led the free world to victory in World War II, Eisenhower had
been elected President, twice. Because he had been both the supreme
military and civilian leader of America, Eisenhower spoke with unique
authority on those places in our national life where military needs
collided with civilian necessities. Here is what General Eisenhower
said as he concluded his eight years as President of the United States:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are
not fed....."

Bold words. Few of our leaders today seem willing to recognize, along
with Eisenhower, that when we do not feed our hungry and do not care
for our poor but use that money to make guns, launch warships and fire
rockets, we rob ourselves. Yet according to the non-partisan Office of
Management and Budget, 63% of our discretionary budget for 2011 is
spent on our military and veteran affairs. Our national military
budget is now $700 billion dollars a year.

Ben Cohen, the co- founder of Ben&Jerry's, uses a stack of Oreo
cookies to illustrate the immensity of $700 billion dollars. If one
Oreo cookie represents $10 billion dollars, then the Pentagon's budget
is a stack of 70 Oreo cookies. In comparison to that stack of 70, the
federal government spends just 4.5 Oreos on education, half an Oreo on
alternative energy sources and a fraction of an Oreo on Head Start. If
we took just 7 Oreos from the Pentagon's stack, we could provide
health care for all the poor kids who currently don't have any at all,
offer Head Start for all the kids who need it, and eliminate our need
for Mideast oil by developing new energy efficiencies.

The United States has an ocean on each side and two friendly allies on
the north and south. We now spend 5 times more on weapons than the
next country that is not our ally and that country is China. While our
concern for terrorists is real, the vast majority of our national
military budget is not spent for defense against terrorists but for
the guns, warships and rockets that General Eisenhower warned would
rob us of our ability to care for our poorest members.

Our national budget is a moral statement, a statement about what is
important to us as a society. As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
wind down and as Congressional debates heat up, those of us who try to
follow Jesus have an opportunity to ask "What would Jesus cut?"
Perhaps Jesus might look at a military budget of $700 billion dollars,
or 70 Oreo cookies if you will, and suggest that the time has come
for us to follow the advice of General Eisenhower and use a fraction
of that vast amount to help those who cannot help themselves. Jesus
would understand the need. The haunting question is why don't we?

In faith,

Charles

Where Were You at 6 PM Last Saturday Night?---The Rapture Unraveled

If you were still with us on Saturday night after 6 pm, you were not
caught up in the "Rapture" and so you are among the sinful who will be
destroyed in 6 months time when Jesus returns to earth for the final
day of judgment. But wait a minute. None of those who expected the
Rapture were caught up by it either. The Rapture didn't happen. So why
did a small fringe element of Christians think Saturday, May 21, 2011
was so important? Are they nuts? Well, in a word, yes. At least
according to Dr. Barbara Rossing, a graduate of Carlton College, Yale
Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School. Dr Rossing is the author
of "The Rapture Exposed" and argues persuasively that "The Rapture is
a racket." This Sunday at 9:45 in the last class of Good Shepherd and
the World, Charles, Rick and Karl lead a talk on the origin of the
Rapture and why believers in the Rapture are not just wrong but
perhaps even dangerous.

The Daunting Challenge of Forgiveness

Jesus tells us that if we want to release ourselves from pain we must
forgive those who cause us pain. How many times? An infinite number of
times. But how do you forgive someone who has caused the death of your
own child? Patricia Nuckles was the daughter of Hector and Susie
Black. In the year 2000 Patricia was raped and murdered in Atlanta by
a man searching for money and drugs. Hector and Susie chose to travel
the painful and difficult road towards forgiving Ivan Simpson, the man
who murdered Patricia.
At the age of 83, Hector has been interviewed on NPR, featured by
Krista Tippett, the host of "On Being" and depicted in the recent
book "Field Notes on the Compassionate Life." This Sunday at 9:45
Hector has agreed to visit Good Shepherd, traveling from the
Cookeville area to be with us. His story is gripping. Please invite
your friends to meet and listen to Hector as this remarkable man tells
us about forgiving the killer of your own child.

Hinduism

There are over one billion Hindus, yet most Americans know little
about Hinduism. With its origins in the Iron Age in what is now India,
Hinduism is almost certainly the oldest surviving religion in the
world. With a belief in one divinity but many sub gods, karma,
reincarnation and duty, Hinduism has a bewildering number of aspects.
Indeed some authorities say that Hinduism is not a religion but an
umbrella. Unlike Christianity or Islam, or Buddhism, Hinduism has no
single founder. Because Hinduism is so all-embracing, Hindus cannot be
labeled as heretics. In the words of one noted Hindu theologian,
Hinduism cannot be defined. It can only be experienced. This Sunday at
9:45 Shivam Zaveri comes from the University of Tennessee to tell us
about Hinduism and his own beliefs and experience as a Hindu. Come
join us.

Hinduism

There are over one billion Hindus, yet most Americans know little
about Hinduism. With its origins in the Iron Age in what is now India,
Hinduism is almost certainly the oldest surviving religion in the
world. With a belief in one divinity but many sub gods, karma and
reincarnation, Hinduism has a bewildering number of aspects. Indeed
some authorities say that Hinduism is not a religion but an umbrella.
Unlike Christianity or Islam, or Buddhism, Hinduism has no single
founder. Because Hinduism is all embracing, Hindus cannot be labeled
as heretics. In the words of one noted Hindu theologian, Hinduism
cannot be defined. It can only be experienced. This Sunday at 9:45
Shivam Zaveri comes from the University of Tennessee to tell us about
Hinduism and his own beliefs as a Hindu. Come join us.

We Remember the Holocaust

This Sunday at Good Shepherd we remember the Holocaust. We do so for
one simple reason. The German executioners were Christians. Their
victims were Jewish.
Like it or not, we Christians have a lot to answer for. The plain
truth is that because of a simplistic reading of the gospels of
Matthew and John, generations of Christians have believed that the
Jews killed Jesus and should therefore be punished. And boy have we
made "them" pay. For two thousand years Christians have segregated,
dominated and killed our Jewish brothers and sisters, forgetting all
the while that Jesus was Jewish as were his closest followers.
Sadly some of our greatest church leaders have encouraged this bitter
legacy of hatred and oppression, from Origen to Augustine to Martin
Luther. And so when German Christians, acting on behalf of the Nazi
government of Germany, killed 6 million of the 9 million Jews in
Europe during World War II, they were fulfilling the darkest
inheritance of a faith whose founder taught us to love our neighbors
as ourselves.
This Sunday at 9:45 our friend Jeff Gubitz, the head of the Knoxville
Jewish Alliance, returns to Good Shepherd to help us remember the
tragedy of the "Calamity", the Shoah, the Holocaust.
And at 5 pm that same day, we will join in the annual service of
remembrance at Heska Amuna on Kingston Pike. Both Susan and I will
participate in the service. I hope you will come.
And I sincerely hope that you will bring your children. We who are
Christian must never forget.
In faith and peace,
Charles

What Really Happened at Easter?

In the fall of 2002, my first year at seminary, I sat down for dinner
at the refectory with a stranger who introduced himself as "Tom
Wright." Tom was English, sharp, perhaps a little full of himself. But
then again perhaps I was a little full of myself too. Sometime later I
discovered that "Tom" was N.T. Wright, distinguished New Testament
scholar and recently appointed Bishop of Durham in England.

More recently I spent part of a day with Marcus Borg. I was not alone.
There were perhaps two hundred other seekers in the audience as well.
We were there because Marcus Borg, an Episcopalian and nationally
known Bible scholar, is a leader of Progressive Christianity.
American, modest and sincerely respectful of others whose opinions
about Jesus he does not share, Dr Borg autographed a book I brought
with me for that purpose.

The book was "The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions". The authors? Tom
Wright and Marcus Borg. One is an Englishman, one an American, both
Oxford graduates who shared the same major professor, and yet who have
come to very different places as they seek to understand the mystery
that is Jesus.

Tom Wright and Marcus Borg are two deeply erudite scholars with two
very different ideas about Easter. This Sunday at 9:45 am we will
discuss their conflicting ideas and invite you to consider your own
response to the challenging question "What Really Happened at Easter?"

Come join us as we discuss the views of two men who, perhaps by
accident, I happen to know.

And remember to keep searching and keep asking questions,

yours in faith,

Charles

BRUCE!!!

Bruce Pearl was a great basketball coach at UT. He was also, at least
by recent accounts, a highly competitive recruiter who broke several
major college rules, tried to cover them up, failed and was eventually
fired. Why did the University make a show of standing by him only to
dismiss him later? What does his conduct say about college basketball
and its fans? And most importantly of all, what do Christian ethics
say to us about repentance, forgiveness and what our expectations
should be for the leaders who coach our young people in sports and in
life? This Sunday at 9:45 am, attorney Doug Trant, Charles, Rick and
Karl set out the facts and lead the discussion at Good Shepherd and
the World. Come join us.

Straight Parents--Gay Kids

"Homosexuality is a sin that can be overcome" according to a book now
on sale at Wal-Mart.

The parents of many gay children beg to differ.

One mother, one father, both persons of faith, come to Good Shepherd
this Sunday at 9:45 am to describe their own spiritual journeys when
each of them came to realize they had a gay child.

As the Episcopal church begins to fashion a liturgy for the blessing
of same gender relationships, it is important to listen with respect
to the life experience of parents who are Christian and whose children
come to understand that they were gay.

Christian evangelicals argue that being gay is a "lifestyle".

But many faithful Christians whose children are gay know a different
and deeper truth: their children did not choose to become gay--they
discovered that they were gay. And that discovery was often painful.

Come listen to the parents of gay children and then begin to decide
for yourself whether being gay is a choice or a discovery.

In peace and faith,

Charles

Is God a She, a He or an It? Part Two

A woman I once knew was raped repeatedly by her father. Not
surprisingly she has spent the rest of her life trying to understand
why Christians persist in calling God their "Father". The word
"Father" brings no comfort to a victim of incest.

Another woman, who enjoyed a close and enduring relationship with her
own beloved "daddy," doesn't see the problem. The word "Father" brings
her immense comfort.

If God is mystery and unknowable, why does humanity need to attach any
gender to the name of God? Is it because the people of ancient Israel
were a deeply patriarchal culture? Is it because Jesus referred to God
as "Abba" or Daddy? Is it because the English language is heavily male
inflected?

What is wrong with referring to God in gender neutral language? Try it
in any well bred Episcopal church and see what happens.

The Rev. Dr Karl Weddle, our Rector Emeritus, continues with Part Two
of his discussion of why we might want to liberate the notion of God
from our concept of male authority. Not surprisingly the Episcopal
church continues to reflect on ways of referring to God without
engaging in the sterile debate of whether God is a She, a He or an It.
Come join us at 9:45 am, in the parish hall.

Yours in the spirit,

Charles

Praying with Ignatius of Loyola

Ignatius was a soldier who fought in battle, a priest who saved souls
and a leader who founded the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, as the
intellectual shock troops of the Catholic Church.

Ignatius helped teach two important approaches to prayer.

The first involved reading a story about Jesus and then imagining the
story in your own mind, the sights, the sounds, the colors, the
smells. By imagining the story you become part of the story in an
unusually intimate way.

The second involved remembering the events of your day with the aid of
Jesus. Where did you see the presence of God during your day, where
did you succeed in following the model of Jesus, where did you fail
and where do you ask God to help strengthen you?

This Sunday at 9:45 am, Rick Carter helps teach us how to pray, using
the model of Ignatius.

This is Lent and Lent is a good time to adopt ancient principles of
prayer to modern American realities. Come join us,

May the Spirit lead you to a meaningful life,

Charles

Centering Prayer at Good Shepherd This Sunday

Jesus prayed. A lot. His cycle of life seemed to involve prayer and
work, work and prayer. His followers were so impressed by his practice
they asked him to teach them how to pray. What we now call the Lord's
prayer was his simplified response.

But we know that Jesus prayed for hours, not minutes, at a time. And
it seems likely that when he prayed at length, he did so by a practice
that is now known as "Centering Prayer."

Centering prayer is a method of resting in God. It provides a way to
help us open ourselves to God and to allow God into our souls. The
practice of Centering Prayer is ancient and can be traced back in
Christian literature as early as Isaac and the Desert fathers in the
3d and 4th centuries.

This is the season of Lent. Lent is a time of preparation that
traditionally involves prayer. This Sunday at 9:45, June Goforth and
Rick Carter will teach us how to rest in God, using Centering Prayer.
Why not come? You might find that you deepen your relationship with
God. And isnt what this journey is really all about?

May we all come to know what it is to rest in the Spirit,

Charles

Is God a She, a He or an It?

Some years ago a woman told me that she could never believe in
Christianity because Christians referred to God only as "Father" or
"He'.

I asked why that bothered her. She said that as a child she had been
raped by her father. She could not worship anything called "Father".

I have told this story to other Christians who regard themselves as
traditionalists. While everyone is sympathetic to the child, not
everyone gets the woman's point. A common response is, in effect, to
just get over it. God the Father is part of the Christian faith.

The truth is that Christianity grew out of a male dominated society in
the Near Middle East 2000 years ago. Jesus referred to God as "Abba"
or "Daddy" in Aramaic. And many of us continue to call God "he" and
flinch when others call God "she" or "Mother God."

But does the mystery called God really have a gender? Or is God beyond
gender?

Union Theological Seminary in New York--one of the great non-
denominational seminaries in the western world-- requires its students
to refrain from calling God "Father".

And the Scottish Episcopal Church has recently begun to use a gender
neutral worship service that does not refer to God as male. In their
view God is a mystery beyond gender. Of, if you like, God is both male
and female.

Should we follow? Come to Good Shepherd and the World this Sunday at
9:45 am as the Rev. Dr Karl Weddle addresses the question of whether
God is Male or Female.

In peace,

Charles

Stephen Ministry is coming to Good Shepherd

You don’t have to wear a collar to care about other people. 

Early in his ministry in Galilee, Jesus sent out his followers to bring God’s loving presence to others. Jesus gave the disciples basic directions and then left them to get on with it. None of them wore a collar.

To their surprise, the disciples found that they too could bring the presence of God into the lives of those who were sick and frail and ailing. Their willingness to serve God by serving others seemed to have been all they needed.

You can do the same. Whatever your skill set, whatever your background, you too can serve God by serving others.

This Sunday at 9:45 am, Jo Wallace, Janis Wade, Susan Sgarlat and Frank Word will describe a form of face to face Christian ministry called Stephen Ministry. The willingness to love others by listening to them without trying to fix them is at the heart of Stephen Ministry.

Perhaps you may be called to serve others as the disciples once did. Come listen. Come learn. And remember: you really don’t need a collar to care about other people.

In faith and peace,

Charles

What Would Jesus Cut?

When the prophet Nathan confronted the ruler David and accused David of infidelity with the wife of one of his commanders, Nathan dared to speak truth to power.

The risks were real. David was the King of Israel. He could quite easily have ordered Nathan executed. But Nathan got lucky. David had a conscience and was brave enough to admit that he was wrong. David repented—changed his life—while Nathan became a model of how bold people live a life of faith in the public arena.

So how do we--who are not ancient prophets--learn to live our own faith in the world?

This Sunday at 9:45 am at Good Shepherd and the World, Dr Karl Weddle and Dr Rick Carter lead us in reflecting on the relationship between our Christian faith and our public lives.

Rick will use as one example Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojouner magazine and the author of God's Politics. Jim Wallis is an evangelical Christian who is a scathing critic of both Republicans and Democrats.

As both political parties renew their partisan debates about cutting the budget, Jim Wallis asks a simple and daunting question.

What Would Jesus Cut?

You may not agree on his answer. But if you are trying to walk the Christian path, you have to agree that the question goes to the heart of our faith in the world.

In the words of an inquiring member of Good Shepherd

We may not succeed in answering all your questions.

The answers we find may only serve to raise a whole new set of questions.

In some ways we may feel as confused as ever, but we believe that we are confused on a higher level and about more important things.

So come join us this Sunday at 9:45 am as we reflect upon Christianity, Politics and the question

What Would Jesus Cut?

  

Roy's Rock

"Roy's Rock"

On the night of July 31, 2001 Roy Moore, the newly elected Chief
Justice of the State of Alabama, ordered a massive stone carving of
the 10 Commandments installed in a prominent place in the Supreme
Court Building in Montgomery.

"Roy's Rock" weighed 5,280 pounds. Its installation was filmed by
Coral Ridge Ministries, a Christian group that later sold videotapes
of the proceeding.

Judge Moore justified his extraordinary act by claiming that the 10
Commandments were the moral foundation of American law and needed to
be on permanent display as people came into court. Thousands of
demonstrators stood on the courthouse steps to support Roy and his Rock.

Was he right? Not in the view of every other judge who considered
Roy's claim. Roy was ordered to take the rock out of the courthouse.
When he refused he was removed from office by the other judges of
Alabama.

What is going on here? Many Americans sincerely feel its important to
post Christian symbols in public places and to require prayer in
public schools. Are they right? What can Christians do to live their
private values in the public sphere?

This Sunday at 9:45 Doug Trant and I begin to tackle the thorny
question of what Christians can and cannot do to live Christian lives
in public places in America. To tip my hand, I confess that I am much
more concerned about teaching our kids to pray at home than I am about
requiring them to pray at school.

Come join us, as we look at Roy's Rock and discuss its implications.

Charles

STEPHEN MINISTERS ARE COMING TO GOOD SHEPHERD

Sometimes you just need someone to listen.

In the middle of the challenges of life—and we all have challenges in life—it can help to have someone with us who listens and who cares.

Whether you are male or female, young or old, the opportunity to talk to someone who will listen to you with sympathy and insight is a great gift.

That is particularly true if the person doing the listening doesn't try to fix you or fix your problem.

Christianity is not a spectator sport. Christianity invites us into action for the welfare of one another.

That is why the vestry of Good Shepherd has decided to adopt Stephen Ministry as a model for Christian service to each other.

For seven days and three nights, from Sunday, January 9 to Saturday January 15, five members of Good Shepherd--- Lani Hubbard, Jo Wallace, Janice Wade, Susan Sgarlat and Charles Fels--- attended a 50 hour training course in Stephen Ministry. The experience was intense. We returned ready to begin a training program later this year for those among us who are called to become Stephen Ministers.

Stephen Ministers are women and men from Good Shepherd who are trained to be fully present for others.

Stephen Ministers don't fix problems. Many of life's problems aren't really "fixable" anyway.

Instead, Stephen Ministers listen, mirror back what they hear and help reflect upon life's challenges. And they pray, out loud, for the well being of the person they visit.

Stephen Ministry is nothing more and nothing less than one on one Christian caring.

The standards for serving as a Stephen Minister are deliberately high: those who feel called to become Stephen Ministers are asked to complete a written application, participate in a personal interview and agree to a background check. They then participate
in 50 hours of training spread out over four to six months.

After that, the new Stephen Ministers will spend a minimum of 9 hours each month in active ministry, inside or outside the parish. Each Stephen Minister agrees to serve for a two year period.

Stephen Ministry is new to Good Shepherd but not new to the rest of the world. The program was begun 35 years ago by a Lutheran pastor in St Louis and has now spread to 150 denominations and 10,000 congregations. Over half a million women and men have trained to become Stephen Ministers.

The ministry of caring is everyone's responsibility. We eagerly await those who feel called to serve others as Stephen Ministers and we ask for the prayers of all members of the parish as we begin this new and exciting opportunity to serve God in the world around us.

Yours in Christ,

Lani Hubbard, Jo Wallace, Janice Wade, Susan Sgarlat and Charles Fels

Stephen Ministry Leaders at Good Shepherd